Trip to South Georgia and tough Clinch County team is up next for Warren County

By Jack SmallwoodCorrespondent

The Cinderella football season for the Warren County Screaming Devils continues this week on the road way down in South Georgia in the State Class A Quarterfinals. This Friday night, the Devils will play Coach Jim Dickerson's Clinch County Panthers in Homerville, which is located between Waycross and Valdosta.

"I am very fortunate to be able to coach a team like Warren County with the players we have," Head Coach Lee Hutto said. "Our guys have worked extremely hard to get where we are now, only one game away from the Georgia Dome and two games away from a state championship game."

With Warren County's appearance in this week's state quarterfinals following last Friday's 41-34 dramatic win over the Landmark Christian War Eagles, the team has achieved yet another milestone in Coach Hutto's inaugural season at the school. This game marks the farthest that the Screaming Devils have been in post season play since way back in the early 1970s when Warren County lost the state championship game to Roswell High School in a contest played at The Brickyard in Thomson.

"Every one of our players have demonstrated superb leadership and dedication in leading this team to a second place finish in the region and a spot in the state quarterfinals this week against the always tough Panthers of Clinch County,"

The Panthers are a perennial participant in the state playoffs. This year's squad, which owns a 10-2 overall record, captured the Region 1-A Title with an unblemished 8-0 mark.

And they did it with a strong defense. The Panthers have only given up seven points in the past two playoff games.

"The Panthers do not have a weak spot anywhere on their team," Coach Hutto said. "They are definitely the 'Lincoln County' of South Georgia."

To offset that Clinch County has only given up seven points in the last two games, the Warren County offense has scored a whopping 97 points in two playoff games. The Devils defeated Bowdon 56-24 in the first round of the playoffs and outlasted Landmark Christian last week 41-34.

In preparation for their contest with Clinch County, Coach Hutto and his Devils will quickly say they are not going to change anything.

"We are going to keep doing what we do best, that is run the football," Coach Hutto said. "We now have two players that have surpassed or are close to eclipsing the 1000 yard mark for the year, and we are just going to keep the ball in the hands of our running game."

Senior halfback Quadrez "Disco" Reese has now gained 1,021 yards on the ground, and junior quarterback Tommy Seals has gained 967 yards for the year

"It is a big accomplishment to have two runners that have achieved this great achievement," he said. "We have put up points on the scoreboard in the last four or five games, and our team is geared to run the ball. We have done a great job for the last 12 games, and there is no need to change now."